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What if the “facts” we’ve been given about AIDS are false? Researcher Dr. Peter Duesberg challenges the traditional view of AIDS during Pacific Union College’s All-Science Seminar series on Tuesday, February 10, at 10 a.m. in Chan Shun Hall lecture hall #2. Admission is free. Duesberg, an instructor in the department of molecular and cell biology at UC Berkeley, has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the California Scientist of the Year Award, the American Medical Center Oncology Award, and the Outstanding Investigator Award. In 2000, the South African government invited him to discuss the AIDS crisis as a member of the International Panel of Scientists. Duesberg challenges the virus-AIDS hypothesis by proposing that AIDS related diseases stem from long-term consumption of recreational drugs and anti-HIV drugs....

Pacific Union College welcomes author Dr. Karen Lebacqz as she presents, "Genetic Enhancement: Christian Ethics in a Cyborg Age." Lebacqz will present her lecture as part of PUC's Longo Lecture Series on Thursday, February 26, at 7:30 p.m. in the PUC church. Admission is free. Lebacqz is the Robert Gordon Sproul Professor of Theological Ethics at the Pacific School of Religion and Graduate Theological Union. She received her Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1974 and served on the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical & Behavioral Research. She has also served as the president of the Society of Christian Ethics and as a chair of the board of the Park Ridge Center for the Study of Health, Faith and Ethics. Lebacqz has published nine books including The Human Embryonic Stem Cell Debate (2001), Ethics and Spiritual Care (2000), and Sexuality: A Reader (1999). During her career, Lebacqz has been the recipient of several awards and grants, including the GTU Newhall award for development of practicum in bioethics, the Lilly Endowment grant for work in professional ethics, and the National Endowment for the Humanities grant. Lawrence D. Longo, M.D., established the Longo Lecture endowment in 1992 in...

Aviation students attending Pacific Union College can now complete the commercial flight training portion of their program in Angwin, thanks to the recent purchase of a Piper Seminole twin-engine plane. Last year, an FAA mandate posed a crisis to the aviation program, since the aircraft being used for commercial training no longer met requirements for FAA practical tests. After researching the perfect aircraft for training purposes, Nathan Tasker, chief flight instructor and director of the PUC flight center, concluded a Piper Seminole was the aircraft of choice. "The Seminole is great for what it was designed to do - train," said Tasker. "Its operating costs are low; it is safe and easy to fly; it can safely perform emergency procedures in-flight; and it is capable of short-field landings and takeoffs." But PUC lacked the funds needed to purchase a Seminole. Thankfully, that didn't stop Tasker. After sharing his vision with others, offering many prayers, writing over 400 letters to every Seminole owner in the country, selling another plane, receiving donations, acquiring a loan, working through on-line trading companies, and making four inspection trips to Florida, Tennessee and Pennsylvania, there was still no plane. Most people would have given up at...

John McVay, Professor of New Testament and Dean of the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, will speak for Pacific Union College’s Heubach Lecture in Dauphinee Chapel on Thursday, April 15, at 7:30 p.m. His subject will be “Waging Peace in the Great Controversy: Paul’s Call to Arms.” Dr. McVay, who served for 13 years in PUC’s religion department, is a specialist in the later Pauline Epistles, and contributes regularly to professional conferences and publications. ...

The thought of a college student behind the wheel is probably not a contemplation that brings images of peace and security to your mind. Perhaps it comes with visions of mangled road guards and huge hospital bills—or at least exhorbitant speeds followed by exhorbitant speeding tickets. But as a young person who enjoys a calm and leisurely drive, let me introduce you to a few college students who experience more than road rage and speed highs behind the wheel. Morgan Wade loves driving, maps, and history. So I knew he’d have some good stories about local drives. “There’s a back road that I love,” he says, “one of the most beautiful drives that I remember.” He’s referring to Ida Clayton Road (which turns into Western Mine Road), taking off from Highway 128 north of Calistoga, winding around the Western side of Mt. St. Helena, and coming out on 29 south of Middletown. There isn’t much “civilization” for Morgan to encounter as he tootles along the road, except the sign for a Trout Farm – in fact, Morgan says, the road seems to give him a little idea of how California was before it was settled. It’s a lazy Friday afternoon,...